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Now to some of you, we may seem a bit nuts with our "zoo" and calling them our children. You must not have animals. Chris and I have yet to be Blessed with our own children, so these are our fuzzy children. Now don't get me wrong, it did not start out as, "Hey honey, do you want to have more animals than you ever imagined before we have a baby?" Oh no no no.... we pretty much acquired them by some situation or another.
Katzi is the "grandma" of the house. Zatzi: (Means cat in German) was Chris's grandmother's cat. When Chris's sweet grandma Virginia was dying, she asked Chris to take her once she passed. Realize at this time Chris was DEATHLY allergic to cats and somehow by the Grace of God, he was actually able own a cat. We are not really sure how old this sweet baby is because she was rescued by Chris's mom and given to her mother, but are guessing she is around 10-11. She is also lovingly known as "Kitty Kitty meow meow", courtesy of Jamison Coy :)
Now for the angel dog, Zoe. She will be 7 on Halloween and that makes me feel EXTREMELY old because I got Zoe when I was a Junior at Texas Tech. She was actually a gift from my college boyfriend, but will always be very special to me for other reasons. January 10th, 2002 I lost my older sister to breast cancer at age 32. It was a very rough year for me and the next year to the day, January 10th 2003, I was Blessed with Zoe. "Zoe" means life. The best dog that has ever walked this green earth and if you have ever met Zoe, I know you would agree. She is my world and I am so grateful to be her mamma.
Next is Samson "Sam" and I really don't even know where to start with this child. Sam was my younger brother, Scott's dog. Long story short, he should not have adopted this sweet boy and big sister came to the rescue. He was only supposed to have a "short stay" at the Harl house. It has now been over three years. He has some issues, but is a very precious and with plenty of exercise he can be a good boy.
Jaxson "Jax" Is my sweet little love bug. It is quite a shame that he honestly despises Chris and everything he stands for. He honestly will BOLT out of a room if Chris walks in. Strangely, he loves nothing more than laying in daddy's clothes or shoes. Cats are so odd. Jax we actually rescued from the Humane Society one weekend in Pets Mart. He was an impulse buy for sure. In my defense though, I had just lost my one year old kitten that I had previous to meeting Chris, to feline leukemia. I was having a very hard time with it. Georgia May was such a special cat and I'm still upset to this day about her leaving us so soon.
Holy cow... I'm laughing as I type all of this out because I realize we have entirely too many animals! The great part is though, that's what makes our house a home. I wouldn't have it any other way :)
We also have an "adopted child" that lives outside, a cat Toby. Toby found us as a kitten and someone (of course me), decided he needed food. And as it usually goes, he has never left. Chris has threatened divorce if any other animals show up :) tee he he....
Last but not least is our baby Boxer, Blaise Marie. Blaise was somewhat of an "unplanned" accumulation as well :) Chris's parents boxer, Dacari was bred one fateful day this past February. We had no intentions what so ever of getting a puppy. I promise! We have some friends that have boxers: one couple has two females and our other friend has two males, plus his parent's female boxer. I had always said there were so many other breeds that I wanted to have as my first purebred (many yrs from now), since we only have mutts. Needless to say, we got the call when she was going into labor and we were there over a period of three days and saw most of the litter of 7 being born.
This picture above is seconds after Blaise was born on my in-laws front porch. Wow.. what an incredible experience. Maybe I'm a sucker, but the miracle of life is just so beautiful and there was no way that someone in the family wasn't going to keep the "miracle puppy" that was born on the porch!
In conclusion to this entirely too long post, I love all of my fuzzy children very much. We both came from houses of animal lovers, (his parents have 5 dogs now and I grew up with lots of dogs and cats.) Yet, I still never saw myself having this menagerie of animals already at this point of my life. I love animals, everything about them. The way they make your heart smile and how they always seem to know when you need extra love. I truly believe animals make this world a better place to live in.
My love of these furry friends have caused me to add two things on my "bucket list."
1.) Train a dog to be a therapy dog to visit elderly and children in hospitals/homes. I was VERY close to this already. Zoe was close to being a certified therapy dog, but failed one part of the test and with her age and bad hips, I decided to give up. Blaise is now in the first of many training classes, so she can be well trained at a young age and delight people for many, many years to come.
2.) Have a no-kill animal shelter for animals that are dis-placed and can be rehabilitated for adoption and/or find a permanent home on our facility. And this my friends, is why I am doing USANA. One day, we WILL have land and the means to make my dreams come true :)
My daily blog post is done. Now, give your furry children a hug goodnight my friends!
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